Orokin Effect
by Rodeka
Summary: When the Illusive Man receives a strange message regarding an unknown signal on the edge of chartered space. A discovery which will lead to new discoveries, lots of political intrigue and that might just change the history of the galaxy. This story will take place from mid-ME2 to (hopefully) the end of ME3. The Warframe side of things will take place a few years after War Within.
1. A Message Received

Hello Fellow Fanfictioneers,

I'd like to point out that this fan fiction is my first one to be published, On that note please feel free to post any constructive criticism that may help me improve my writing. I'm here too learn as much as I'm here because I love writing. On another note I will be updating rather haphazardly cause life and stuff. So without further a due, Please Enjoy...

P.S. Both Mass Effect and Warframe Are own by their respective owners...

 ** _OROKIN EFFECT_**

 ** _Chapter 1:_**

 ** _A Message Received_**

 **Cronos Base, Location Unknown…**

The Illusive Man, Jack Harper, was sitting in his chair looking out the panoramic window in his office. His electric blue cybernetic eyes taking in the magnificent view it offered of the large star situated close to the base. It had been a long day for the Illusive Man, Shepard was once again giving him problems like usual. Honestly, sometimes he wondered if bringing him back to life was the best option for Cerberus. Of course he could find no justification among the various thoughts floating through his mind. At least he could say that Shepard would help save humanity and get the job done no matter what. His goody two shoes nature aside, Shepard was a fantastic Commander leading with unparalleled charisma. He was feared by his enemies and respected by his allies. Suddenly a beeping sound emanating from his computer broke him out of his trance and had him staring at the rapidly beeping console. Taking one last long puff of his cigarette, he tapped the green answer button on his terminal, the holographic communication system coming to life behind him as a visual hologram of Kai Leng, one of his most trusted and effective operatives, appeared in the center of the room.

"Hello Kai, I hope everything went well with your previous assignment." Said The Illusive Man with a kind voice that only he could make intimidating.

"Of Course Sir, all the intel you asked for is included in this file. Forwarding Now." Responded Kai, his hologram quickly tapping away on his omnitool for a few seconds before a sudden ping could be heard from the Illusive Man's terminal. He looked over to see the intel he requested on the current state of the council. Notes on the Councilors, their current political stances, the state of affairs, how security is going over there and various other topics of note about the citadel. He quickly skimmed through the documents, reaching documents of similar notes dealing with various high important locations; Omega, the Terminus systems, Alliance space, Council space, Ilium, etc.

"Impressive Kai, Very Impressive. Keep working like this and you'll find yourself rising through Cerberus' ranks. Thank you Kai. Now Get some leave. You've earned it." Said The Illusive Man. He meant it too. Kai had been nothing but loyal,effective and efficient in his work with Cerberus. He deserved a little break. Better now then when Shepard inevitably resigned from the organization.

"Thanks sir, Your words mean a lot. Before I sign off however I have one more piece of information. I've intercepted reports of an unknown signal coming from a previously uncharted area of the Terminus Systems. I'm Forwarding the information to you now." Once again Kai tapped away at his omnitool and sent the file.

Looking at the document, the Illusive Man gave it a quick once over before quickly looking it over once more, his cybernetic eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Could it be a simple pirate ship that was taken out and left to drift. It is the Terminus after all." Asked the Illusive Man curiously.

"I've explored the possibility. But the signal matches no known IFF." Responded Kai.

"Collector perhaps. Maybe even Reaper. This could prove to be a major problem if it is one of the two." Pondered the Illusive Man.

"It's a possibility."

"In that case we shouldn't risk anything. I'll have Shepard check it out his knowledge on the Reapers and the Collectors would be invaluable if that were the case. Thank you Kai. Enjoy your time off." Concluded the Illusive Man.

"Thank you sir, Kai Leng signing out." Said Kai with a slight bow as his hologram faded out of existence.

Turning to face the star once more the Illusive Man lit yet another cigarette and took a nice long drag. Exhaling the sweet aromatic smoke, he turned to face his monitor and with his off hand pushed a button on the holographic screen. Soon enough a very perky feminine voice began to emanate from his computer.

"Hello sir, I'm assuming you're calling to alert Shepard about something." Said the woman on the other line.

"Yes, Kelly, please tell Shepard to reach me as soon as possible. I feel that we may have a situation arising in the Terminus systems." Said the Illusive Man.

"Of course Sir, He on a mission to recruit Jack right now. We are currently docked with Purgatory and should be leaving with the next few hours." Kelly said happily over the comms. Suddenly the sound of an explosion could be heard in the distance. With a sigh, Kelly continued,

"Never mind... We might be held up a little sir. I'll let Shepard know to contact you when he can."

"Thank you Kelly. Keep up with the good work. Oh, and if you can please have Shepard contact me as fast as possible. It's a very important matter." Finished the Illusive Man. Slowly he leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. This was going to be a long day.

 **Meanwhile in Purgatory, Cruiser Class Prison Ship, Osun System, Hourglass Nebula...**

BANG! The loud retort of an M6 Carnifex blasted through the Purgatory cell block. With that sound yet another dead. Yet another blue suns merc, a batarian, put down with a single mass accelerated round through the head. Of Course as that lone batarian merc fell four more mercs came running through the cell block exit just across the walkway from where Shepard and his party were taking cover.

"Christ they just keep coming. Of course this whole deal had to be a trap. It's always a trap." Complained Shepard while ducking out of cover and putting down another merc, a turian this time, with three precise incendiary rounds to the head."

"C'mon Shepard, these are Blue Suns mercs we're talking about here. You had to at least expect some kind of deception." Said Garrus, overloading the shields of another merc, before shepard followed up with 4 four shots to the chest. The human merc stood no chance as the incendiary ammo of Shepard's M6 tore through his armor and pulverized his chest cavity staining the sleek metal floors with purple as the crimson blood of the human mixed with the blue turian blood already soaking the ground.

"Look I figured it'd be a trap but seriously. It'd be nice to have been wrong for a change." Yelled Shepard. Hunkering down as the last remaining merc began to open fire on him with his assault rifle. That barrage of mass accelerated rounds was cut short however when the final merc was torn apart by a biotic warp thanks to Miranda.

"Would you two just shut up and get on with the mission. Jack will get away if we continue to progress this slowly." Demanded Miranda as she walked passed the two men. Garrus was quick to respond like always.

"Sure thing Ice Queen." he said while a chuckle.

"Hey!"

"Let's go guys. Garrus Miranda's right. We need to hurry." Shepard said. With that the party began to push forward killing mechs and mercs alike as they progressed through the station. Finally the group reached the last cell block after resupplying ammo off the mercs they killed in the last room. Arriving at yet another door and stacking up against it, the group opened the door and charged for cover. Miranda took down two mercs with a combo of biotics and her trusty M4 Shuriken sub machine gun before placing herself behind a column offering a decent view of the area. At the same time Garrus made for a pretty good sniping position taking out a merc with a powerful concussive shot and sending him flying. Shepard took cover on the right flank beating down a merc with the butt of his M15 Vindicator assault rifle before ending him with a quick three round burst. He decided to look up from where he was but before he could do anything else. Bang! He was knocked on his back, the impact of what must have been a sniper round pushing him to the ground. Rolling into cover before another round could impact his now unshielded form, he heard Warden Kuril Yelling from his elevated position.

"You had to ruin everything. I could have been rich. Protecting the galaxy from these villainous scum while living the high life."

"Your nothing but a two bit slaver, taking people captive and selling them to the highest bidder. You commit heinous acts and then have the balls to justify such things. I thought you were alright at first but you went and threw it away. Now surrender and I might consider letting you off with the Turian court." Yelled Shepard.

"You're more trouble than you're worth! You know that? I think I'll just kill you all myself." Retorted Kuril.

"They never learn do they Shepard." Sighed Garrus.

"Mercs will be mersc it seems. Shall we use our normal strategy for taking out heavily armored and shielded targets?" Said Shepard.

"Just like old times Shepard." Yelled out Garrus over the sound of gunfire.

"Just like old times" Repeated Shepard as he ducked out of cover, using his Vindicator to take out a merc whose head was just a little too far out of cover. Meanwhile Garrus switched out his assault rifle for his M-92 Mantis sniper rifle. Miranda was also ready for their three step plan to take down Kuril, taking cover behind a tall crate while gunning down another merc with her submachine gun.

"Take out the grunts first!" Yelled out Shepard as he threw an incendiary grenade at a group of three mercs who decided to group up just a little too close to each other. They quickly found themselves cooked inside their armor. Garrus fired a heavy concussive shot at a batarian merc sending him flying out of cover. He was quickly picked off by yet another burst courtesy of Miranda's submachine gun. Seeing his supposedly top of their class mercenaries all dead, Kuril yelled out in rage.

"You shits! I'm going to flay you all alive when I get my hands of you three."

"Oh yeah Kuril. We'll see about that. Garrus now!". With that Shepard's masterful three part plan was set into motion. Garrus' omnitool lit up a bright orange as he sent an overwhelming pulse of electricity out towards Kuril. This had a dual effect of overloading Kuril's shields, effectively frying them as well as stunning Kuril long enough to have him stay out of cover for Miranda to easily use her biotics. She moved gracefully out of cover and pulled her right hand back, the tell tale purple glow of biotics enveloped her before concentrating into a large ball in her hand. A biotic warp had formed and now found itself on a direct collision course with Kuril. The ball of concentrated dark matter hit him square in the chest, shredding his armor as it bypassed his non functional shields. Out in the open and with no more armor or shields, Kuril was was completely hopeless against the the three high caliber rounds placed neatly through his skull thanks to Shepard's M97 Viper marksman rifle. Kuril was dead before he ever even hit the floor, the high caliber rounds from Shepard's marksman rifle reducing the corrupt Warden's head to a pulp. The squad payed no mind to Kuril's nearly headless form as they made a beeline for Jack. Finally getting to her at the docking area, the chase ended up in a lovely, and incredibly hostile, conversation between the four people standing in the room.

"I not going with Cerberus. You can forget it. Now, give me one reason why I shouldn't blast you all to bits with my biotics." Yelled out a clearly hysterical Jack.

"Jack, I know you don't have a good history with Cerberus. I don't either, but right now they're a necessary evil. The collectors are abducting entire human colonies Jack. Also I'm not working for Cerberus. I'm just using their resources." Please Jack. This mission needs your biotic expertise if the human race is to survive the collector's apparent insistence on kidnapping all of us." Pleaded Shepard. Thankfully Jack relented. Although not before noting how she wanted access to all files Cerberus had on her. A catch that Shepard was more that willing to comply with. It's not like he cared about Cerberus and their secrets anyways.

So with that, the squad plus one, found themselves back aboard the Normandy ready for their next mission. A mission that may prove to bring change to the whole galaxy.


	2. Questions Answered & Questions Asked

We're making progress. I know this isn't the longest chapter but the path is being set for Shepard. Once Again... Enjoy,

Mass Effect and Warframe are both owned by their respective francises

 _ **Chapter 2:**_

 _ **Questions Answered & Questions Asked**_

 **Normandy, Intergalactic space …**

"Ok Shepard, now I came aboard your ship so it's time you held your end of the bargain." Said Jack. At this point in time, the Normandy found itself zooming away from Purgatory at FTL. After they got back into the airlock, Shepard had made it a point to tell Joker to "Get the hell out of here!". From there he had the whole squad plus Jack and Jacob meet up in the boardroom for a debrief. And so, there Shepard was, moderating a debrief meeting without having, Mrs. Cerberus and the ship's new resident pissed off biotic killing each other. Shepard took a deep breath. This was going to push his diplomacy skills to their ultimate

"Jack, I gave you my word didn't I. The files will be sent to wherever it is on this ship you'll be staying." Said Shepard before Miranda stared at him incredulously quickly reprimanding him,

"Shepard you can't possibly think that you have the clearance to do -" Shepard was quick to interrupt her.

"Miranda, your opinion has been noted and if these were your secrets I wouldn't even consider sharing them. Luckily these files are the Illusive man's secrets, and frankly, I don't give a shit about his secrets. So on that note, Jack is there anywhere on the ship you would prefer to stay."

"Somewhere low, and out of the way. I don't want anyone passing through my space." Replied Jack. At this point Jacob took over the conversation,

"All right then, Welcome to the crew Jack. I don't know what Cerberus has done to you, but whatever happened I hope we can work hard together to take out the collectors." He said with a welcoming smile.

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the lovie dovie sop story. Shepard I'll be heading down to my corner of the ship. Try and get those documents together soon." Said Jack. She then proceeded to leave the room, the distinctive snap-hiss of the automatic doors marking her exit.

"Well wasn't she a bucket of sunshine and rainbows." Commented Garrus leaning against the wall.

"Yeah she really wasn't into working for Cerberus. What happened to her the made her that way?" Remarked Jacob. Miranda by this point had already left the room wordlessly.

"I don't know Jacob. But whatever it is, she'll open up eventually. We just have to be nice and give her time."Said Shepard.

"Alright, anyway I'll see you around Shepard." Said Jacob leaving the room. Shepard looked to Garrus.

"Another perfectly executed mission . Am I right?" Said Shepard with sarcastic grin. Garrus only chuckled.

"Shepard... if that is your idea of a person mission I get the feeling this is going to be one hell of an adventure." Remarked Garrus.

"What that went pretty well." Replied an incredulous Shepard feigning insult. All he received was a tap on the back from a passing Garrus and a "sure thing buddy".

"Oh and Shepard!"

"Yeah Garrus."

"Nice job on getting those upgrades in place. Those thanix cannons are gonna be a hell of an asset against the collectors." Said Garrus he left the room.

"If you like the guns you should see the new armor!"

"Armor doesn't need calibrations. Therefor I'm not interested!"

Shepard stood there in the boardroom laughing with himself as he remembered his time with Garrus. They had been through a lot together. Hunting down Sarren through the whole galaxy, stopping the reapers, they truly were one hell of a team and the best of friends. Shepard sat there in the boardroom relishing in memories when suddenly, Kelly's voice came over the intercom.

"Hi Shepard, So… I met Jack... That was interesting. She's been through way more than anyone should ever have to be through. I just hope she doesn't cause too many problems for the crew."

"She won't... I hope. Is there anything I need to know Kelly?"

"Yes there is. Both Mordin and the Illusive Man would like to have a word with you." She replied.

"Sound good. Thank you Kelly."

"It's always a pleasure speaking with you sir." Said Kelly cut the comm.

Shepard sat there a bit more before reluctantly deciding he might as well get his conversation with the Illusive Man over with. At least he'd have his conversation with Mordin to look forward too. Those were always intellectually stimulating, even if Mordin had a tendency to speak really, really quickly. With that train of thought coming to a close, Shepard got up from his chair and began typing away into the console embedded into the luxurious table. The moment he pressed the enter key, the whole table lowered until it was flush with the floor, the holographic communicator built into the table whirring to life. With a deep breath and a straight face, Shepard stepped onto the hologram generator.

The Illusive Man sat in his chair as he looked at the hologram of Shepard materialized before him. Taking one last drag of his cigarette, he exhaled and began to speak.

"Ah Shepard, I trust Jack's retrieval went according to plan."

"It was about what could be expected from a group of mercs. We got ambushed and took out the whole facility getting to Jack. So can we skip the formalities now. What do you want." Replied Shepard, his face a stony facade of no emotion. The Illusive scowled, but quickly covered it up with a fake smile.

"Well Shepard... I've received reports of an unknown signal coming from the edge of chartered space at these coordinates in the Terminus."

"This is the Terminus systems, are you sure it's not pirates" replied Shepard annoyed.

"Shepard I wouldn't divert you from your mission if I didn't think it wasn't a problem. Unfortunately, the signal's IFF matches no known IFF in Council space."

"So you're saying this could be collectors?" Said Shepard crossing his arms, and narrowing his green eyes at the Illusive Man.

"Or worse the Reapers. Shepard I would tell you this if it was nothing. But I need you to check this out." Shepard sighed. The Illusive Man actually had a point. This was too unusual and needed to be investigated. Better him than a corrupt Cerberus squad.

"Alright I'll have Joker set a course for these coordinates."

"Thank you Shepard, and please, be careful. We don't what this signal is, but it could be anything. The last thing I want is to lose the last hope for Humanity before he ever even manages to make it a third into his mission."

"Shepard signing out" Said Shepard, ignoring the Illusive Man's last few words before cutting off the communication. Rubbing his head, he groaned,

"Great now I have a headache. EDI?"

As Shepard called out, a blue holographic ball appeared at the end of the table closest to Shepard.

"Yes Commander?"

"EDI, have Joker set a course for these coordinates." Said Shepard while using his omnitool to send said coordinates to the cockpit for Joker to use.

"I'll have it done right away… done. Will there be anything else commander."

"No thanks EDI."

"Alright Commander." With that, EDI's hologram in the room proceeded to dematerialize.

"Now to go see what Mordin wants." Said Shepard to no one in particular as he made his way out of the boardroom and into Mordin's lab conveniently located right next door. The moment the door made it's tell tale _snap hiss_ sound, Mordin was already speaking to Shepard.

"Ah Shepard, Wanted to speak with you, Think I made breakthrough on collector swarms and their functions." Said Mordin in his usual hyper speed speech.

" That great news Mordin. Is the countermeasure useful yet."

"Not yet. Seekers, feisty things to work with. Required more caution, A bit longer to test as result." Said Mordin as he went back to looking into a microscope."

"Ok, Well Let me know if you make any more progress on that front."

"Will do. At current rate, should not take long. Need to finish synthesis and molecular analysis. After that, only thing left is live testing."

"That's good to hear, just makes sure to be ready we need to investigate an unknown signal. It could be collectors. I'll need you with me most likely. It's far out though that, should give you enough time to work."

"Thank you Shepard, will be ready when you need me. Now please, need you out of lab. Need to concentrate."

"Sure thing Mordin." Shepard nodded to Mordin and left. He wasn't too sure, but he thought he heard singing coming from the lab after leaving. Tired and with nothing Shepard went around talking with his crew members. Grunt down in engineering was an interesting specimen. 'The Perfect Krogan' he was violent, aggressive, and took no shit from no one. But he respected Shepard and that was enough for him. Zaeed was… something. His little museum he set up in engineering was cool and the man had some great stories to share, but Shepard would not be messing with him anytime soon. Zaeed's morals were somewhat up for questioning but if he didn't endanger others then they'd have no issues. Jack was just misunderstood, and Shepard could see that. Shed seen too make in too little time and it had an affect on her. She was happy that he'd kept his promise and gotten her the documents. Miranda was busy and Garrus was calibrating the guns. Seeing Chakwas was a nice surprise and Shepard was happy she was here. With his crew talked to and he himself effectively running on coffee Shepard finally decided to go take nap.

That lasted for a few hours before Joker woke him up over the intercom in his bedroom.

"Shepard… Get your armor on and come here. You might want to see this."...


	3. Guilded Halls and Silent Ships

Hello my fellow Fanfictioneers. Things are getting interesting as we arrive closer and closer to a convergence that will shake both franchises. In other news My ngest chapter to date. Hopefully I can get them to be about this length or longer.  
Once again I do not own Mass Effect nor Warframe. Only my OCs are mine.

 _ **Chapter 3:**_

 _ **Guilded Halls and Silent Ships**_

Shepard was amazed at what he was seeing. Joker wasn't kidding around when he said this find was something else. A frigate unlike anything Shepard had ever seen was just floating there in the void of space. It was ornate and over the top, but it was the tusk like protrusions at the front of the ship and what Shepard could only guess was a spinal gun mounted in between that told him what he needed to know; this ship could fight. The rest of the ship was made of a white material and accents of… gold? Shepard looked on incredulously. Who used gold on a starship. It was a weak metal, great for jewelry and electronics, but armor? Moving on Shepard took a look at the large triangular loop at the back of the ship. He wondered what the purpose of such a thing would be.

"Well Shepard who ever built this thing must have been compensating for something. Am I right?" Said Joker with a nervous laugh.

"Honestly Joker, I have no idea. This ship is definitely not a collector ship, and it looks nothing like sovereign did so I can assume it's not a reaper. We may have first contact on our hands." Said Shepard before EDI butted into the conversation.

"Unlikely Shepard. I am reading no life signatures from this ship. While this ship is likely from a new undiscovered species, this ship in particular is most definitely an old derelict. Hold on… Shepard, I am also reading no eezo signatures. This ship does not appear to run on mass effect based technology."

"Wait hold on EDI. That shouldn't be possible." Said Shepard.

"And yet here we are."

"Your scans pick anything else up."

"Besides size, Negative Shepard. While I can tell you that this ship is a small cruiser at 600 meters, whatever this ship is made out of, it is a unknown substance. Also Shepard something is interfering with my scans of the ship. It is similar to interference caused by radiation leaks. I would recommend protection if you plan on boarding." Explained EDI.

"Thanks EDI" Replied Shepard before turning to Joker, "Joker, try and find a good place to dock. I'll go get a squad ready." After that, Shepard proceeded to leave the room.

Shepard made his way to the shuttle bay asking EDI to have both Mordin and Garrus report. Garrus was a great soldier and someone he can trust. Someone he would need in case things went south. As for Mordin, well who better to bring to a derelict built by an unknown race that a Doctor and a Galactically renowned biologist. Also he was pretty sure Mordin would never forgive him if he didn't send him on the mission. He arrived at the Shuttle bay a few minutes before the rest of the party giving him time to put on his armor. As Shepard grabbed his assault rifle, his trusty Vindicator, Garrus and Mordin arrived already decked out in their armor, breathers included.

"Hey Shepard what's up with the regal cruiser outside?" Asked Garrus slinging his sniper over his shoulder.

"Cerberus discovered this derelict ship and sent us to investigate. Who it belongs to and what it is are still questions beyond me, but that's what we're going to find out."Replied Shepard.

"New race? Shepard, you have my interest." said Mordin getting giddy over the thought of discovering a new race. Suddenly the intercom blared to life, as Joker began to speak over the line,

"Shepard, I found a spot for the shuttle to land. It's a hull breach near the back of the ship. I have to say though, I don't like this Shepard. The breach appears to have been made by a weapon of some kind. Please be careful." Said Joker.

"We will, thanks for the heads up Joker." Said Shepard.

The squad made their way to the shuttle, getting into the back of the small spacecraft. As the engine burst to life, flames bursting from the thrusters, Shepard took a deep breath. This had sketchy written all over this. A ship floating dead in space having sustained critical amounts of damage. He cocked his assault rifle, a fresh thermal clip in place. He looked at his squad. Garrus was already entering his 'soldier's zen' mode, calming himself down. As much of a pain in the ass he was, Garrus was a fantastic soldier. A great leader, able to think quickly on his feet without help, and versatile. Garrus was good with assault rifles and sniper rifles, leaving him capable at most ranges, as well as good with tech. He wasn't Tali, but he wasn't bad either. As for Mordin he was observing the scans taken by EDI. His time in the STG screaming at him to gather as much intelligence as possible before the mission but something was off. Mordin seemed disappointed.

"Mordin. Is something wrong?" asked Shepard.

"Indeed Shepard. I see many blank spaces in the ship's specifications. Weapons unknown, propulsion unknown, docking clamps incompatible, and no eezo residue detected. I don't like this Shepard. Advise caution while onboard derelict. If anything, will prove to be quite the learning experience. Will keep my gun as ready as my mind." Said Mordin, ending his statement with a nod and what could amount to a salarians best attempt at a smirk. And so they stayed on course finally making it to the breach a few minutes later.

"Well Shepard, here we go again am I right." Said garrus

"Hell yeah Garrus. Let's go guys." Replied Shepard as the door of the shuttle opened up into the ship. The three man squad immediately noticed three things. Firstly, the lights were dimmed heavily. Mordin made it a point to point out that the ship must have been low on power or running on emergency generators. Secondly, the gravity was working fine. Afact that had Mordin immediately on academic alert.

"Shepard, no eezo was detected on board this ship but then artificial gravity should be impossible. Alternative means only possibility. Ship not built the use centrifugal force."

"We'll keep an eye out Mordin."

The pilot's voice came over the comms, "Shepard, returning to the Normandy to refuel. Keep communications open."

"Will do, Shepard out."

The breach turned out to be in a small hallway on the ship, and while the lights were downed, the gold lining the the walls in intricate and ornate floral designs. The while metal that made the wall appeared crisp but solid. Mordin immediately had his scanner out.

"Metal form of reinforced titanium with unknown components alloyed in." Mordin's scanner ran across the floor as he kneeled down, "Floor also reinforced titanium with circuitry seemingly built into the reflective film." Mordin pulled out his Carnifex and fired at the ground. The bullet pinged off the ground, not a scratch left behind. Mordin held his chin thinking aloud, "Hmmm, Floor very durable."

"Hey doc, you almost done there?" Said Garrus.

"Yes, just find this discovery… interesting. Breach in hull suggests boarding procedures. Only hull damaged, suggests controlled explosive entry."

The crew began to walk through the ship looking for a room that could prove to be useful. A bridge, engineering, life support, something. They did come across a few previously unknown types of flora here and there throughout the ship. A find that had Mordin more than happily collecting sample for biological study. The white tree trunk like formations were interesting, they had a similar construction to normal woods save for that fact that they were glowing with an energy that had even the great Dr. Solus stumped. The group made sure to take pictures, scans, and samples for study as they moved throughout the ship. It was interesting, if very eerie thanks to the only sounds being the squad, the hum of the ship and the music playing softly from what seemed like nowhere. Luckily they weren't getting shot at yet, so that was nice. Mordin, of course, had to stop a few times to examine the writing around the ship. A cursive and flowing script that was as beautiful as it was enigmatic. Mordin was on a learning high, cataloging any and everything he could possibly think of. And so the squad continued through the grandiose hallways of the ship. However one thing was putting them off.

"Mordin? I'm not much of an expert on decomposition rates of organic matter but I would think that a derelict would have more corpses." Asked Shepard, the grip on his rifle tightening around his rifle at the realization.

"Shapard you have a good point. Lack of bodies, disturbing. Possible abduction of crew or perhaps the crew escaped, possible answers require too much speculation with current data. Cannot make an accurate assessment." Replied Mordin. At this point, the squad had arrived at a massive doorway. Unfortunately, the massive door that had once been there, stretching from floor to ceiling, was destroyed beyond return and reduced to rubble from midway down.

"Shepard, I don't like this one bit." Stated Garrus. He had his sniper already raised ready for anything that might happen as.

"Ready up, we're going through." Commanded Shepard as the squad cleared through the doorway. They were not ready for the room on the other side. While the room itself was both a work of art and an engineering marvel it was a macabre scene of destruction. Blood stained the floors of the decadent golden hall, dried up who knows how long ago. Bodies could be seen along the length of the central walkway, while the walkway along the sides of the room held cargo units of a kind. However it was what the squad could see at the end of the room that had them wide eyed. A large circular mechanism made of gold and other metals, with two terminals posted directly in front of the squad at the front of the room.

"This is… wow… What do you believe this room is?" Asked Garrus.

"I'm not sure… but whatever it is this is way more advanced than anything I've seen before." Said Shepard. Stepping forward towards the first of the bodies with the other's right behind him, he continued, " Was this a last stand of sort?"

It was then that Shepard first got a good look at one of the corpses and what he saw shocked him to his very core…

They looked human…

"Mordin, check this out."

At this point Mordin ran over to Shepard and immediately engrossed himself in his scientific ramblings.

"Interesting, creature appears human in appearance. Noting lack of decomposition for future study. Truly amazing how bodies have stayed intact this long. But even more impressive, Human resemblance incredibly similar." At this point Mordin cut off a small piece of flesh and placed in into his omnitool's scanner.

"How is that even possible. The odds are astronomical."Said Shepard.

"Unknown, not enough data. Will have to wait for DNA test results to come in."

Meanwhile, Garrus and Shepard examined their equipment… and were left either stumped or in wonder. The golden armor of the soldiers looked though but were clearly compromised by scorch marks or holes burned into the plating. The ruined silken robe like clothing was elegant yet not hindering. But what truly interested then were the weapons they carried. While some of them had elegant looking rifles many of them also carried swords.

"What the hell, they use katanas!" Said Shepard. Garrus was quick to reply.

"Katawhat now?"

"They're ancient human swords originating from Japan. They're known for their sharp edges but lack of anything but slashing damage."

"Ah but that leaves the question… why would a race that looks so advanced carry such primitive weapons?"

"A question for another time Garrus."

All of a sudden Mordin's omnitool pinged and he eagerly looked at the results. Results that proved to be exactly in a line with his hypothesis but every bit surprising nonetheless. These people had almost 99.999999% of the same genetic markers found in humans.

"Shepard, these people are pretty much human." Confirmed Mordin.

"How's that even possible?" Exclaimed both Garrus and Shepard.

"Unknown, but the data doesn't-

The loud sound of gears grinding and electricity sparking put everyone on edge cutting off Mordin's soon to be in-depth speech on the genetic makeup of this new race as their radio's went off, joker's voice emanating from them.

"Shepard! Something's wrong. This ship is turning on by itself." Yelled Joker.

It was then they noticed the mechanism within the room began to start up, the lights became brighter, and the two terminals turned on. Garrus was quick to try and capitalize on that.

"The terminals are on!"

With that, Garrus ran up to the terminal in an attempt to hack it. Unfortunately that was not the approach he should have attempted. The moment his hands touched the neon blue holographic screen emerging from the curvy white and gold terminal the screen vanished, only to be replaced by a floating holographic cube. Things got stranger when the cube began to speak.

"Oh? What do we have here? Your race is not in the Orokin Codex." It looked over the other two squad members, looking over Mordin before setting his gaze upon Shepard. "You!… You appear like one of us but," The light the cube emitted spiked in brightness for a second, "you are not. Who are you?"

"I'm commander Shepard and this is my crew, now I'd like to ask the same thing from you."

"Ah yes I apologize. Five hundred years seems to have left an impact on my mannerisms… I am Cephalon Exodus. I run this ship's systems… or at least I did until it entered hibernation."

At this point the squad began to slowly lower their weapons.

"I take it you're an AI then." said Garrus rather bluntly.

"That depends on how you see it. I guess you can call me a true artificial intelligence but that would be false. My core programing is modeled exactly like an organic mind. So while I am not exactly what you'd call an organic entity. I do behave like one. We cephalons were made from organic minds. Though those memories are a little fuzzy."

This of course had the squad on edge.

"So Exodus… what is this place exactly. We found it floating as a derelict through uncharted space." Said Shepard taking control of the conversation once more.

"This is the Orokin civilian cruiser designation 'Tabellarius'. I was tasked with getting my passengers away from the Empire in a last attempt to save it." The cephalon paused for a moment to look over the bodies that littered the room. "It would appear that I have failed in my mission. The guard seems to have been wiped out."

"Why would to need to leave? Leaving your Empire like that." Asked Garrus. Mordin stood back studying this interaction.

"War…"

"Well isn't that peachy. We discover a new race and it's all ready in a way so bad they had to ditch their system." said Garrus, his sarcasm laid on so thick or was almost tangible. Mordin was now interested.

"How did War begin?"

"With a mistake. We had developed a way to build FTL rails that would be able to send ships at hundreds of light years per second but we thought, why go through the effort of terraforming a system after we've arrived. Why not build drones to prepare the systems for us."

"Drones were AI weren't they?"asked Mordin.

"Yes..."

"And they revolted didn't they..." continued Garrus.

"Yes…"

"I swear it's the same shit over and over again."


	4. Silent Halls of a Dead Moon

Hey my fanfictioneers,

I had a surprising amount of time this week so what better way to celebrate than with an early update. Not much else to say really so with out further a do... Here we go...

 ** _Chapter 4:_**

 ** _Silent Halls of a Dead Moon_**

 **Meanwhile in the Origin System, Galactic location currently unknown...**

The long quiet halls of Lua rang aloud with the sound of hundreds of stomping feet. The heavy foot falls of Grineer lancer platoons in their heavy one tonne armor was only matched in noise by the hard orders of the grineer elite troops, reigning over their respective squads. They were looking for something, that much was clear, but what that something was left one grineer soldier rather curious as he stealthily stepped away from the squads notice, and pulled out a communicator, the sleek and silver design sharply contrasting the rest of his gruff grineer outfit. When the line picked up, he began.

"CLEM!" A heavily accented man was quick to answer on the other line.

"Oi Clem, What do you mean the grineer are up to no good? They're never up anything good anyways." Said the man on the communicator as he began to walk out of the store he called his own, passing under the large holo-sign reading "Darvo's Deals".

"CLEM! CLEM!" Said the Grineer spy, his voice urgent.

"Alright! Alright! I'll have the Lotus look into it. Just be careful Clem. My business can't survive without you."

"CLEM! GRAKATA!".

"Yes, because you're my friend as well. Just get out of there." Said Darvo. As he made his way to the communications center of the Orcus Relay. These next hours would be interesting to say the least.

 **Clan Maestoso Dojo, In Orbit of Jupiter, Origin System...**

A Tenno, outside his warframe, sat there in his dojo, kneeling in his meditations and wearing his white and gold operator suit, a manduka top with koppra leggings and and a open koppra hood. His blue eyes that normally glowed a brilliant green thanks to the void energies infused with his being were now closed as he sat there, reflecting over the day's events. He'd just finished his physical training, and even though he was pretty much average in terms of height and stature he wasn't weak and always excelled at combat training. Dueling would always be his specialty. Unfortunately his skills were not nearly as polished in the art of parkour, Amel and Alexis held that championship title. He allowed a smile to break his meditative face as he got up and, running his hand through his thick blond streaked dark brown hair neatly layered in a side swept style, ended his meditation early. Thinking of his friends always made him happy. Of course his reminiscing was cut short by his communicator ringing off. So it would seem his free time would be a lot shorter than expected, the Lotus had another mission for him.

"Tenno,-

"Please Lotus, we've been fighting the same war for the last 8 years now, the least you could do is skip the formalities." Said the Tenno already clad in his Orokin White Excalibur Umbra, golden accents glistening in the dojo's lighting and his salyk solstice syandana, white and gold as well, followed nicely behind him. He was currently equipping his Pakal armor pieces.

"Alright Anton, I need you and your squad suited up, Clem has reported that we may have a situation brewing on Lua. I need you to deploy a Warframe to Plato."

"Of course, I'll have our squad ready to deploy soon."

"Keep safe."

"Ok Space-Mom."

"What?"

"Nothing…"

With that Anton disconnected the line and called out to his cephalon…

"Hey Ordis, can you get my squad to meet me at the armory. We have a mission."

"Of course operator will there be anything else you need at the moment. A mai tai perhaps." chirped Ordis his tone cheerful as ever.

"Ha...Ha… very funny Ordis" replied Anton sarcastically.

With that done, he finished preparing his loadout. Warframe active and armor equipped, all that was left were good weapons and so Anton got his weapons out of the arsenal. An elegant and somewhat overkill loadout, he placed his Soma prime light machine gun on his back and his lex prime on his upper thigh, the armor's maglocks ensuring they would stay in place. However, everyone has a weapon of choice and his was the blade he now held in his hand. The final piece of his gear, the closest tool to his heart, his Nikana prime. The sword itself was perfect in every way, the gold colored blade complemented by the white sheath and emerald lights made for as much a work of art as a deadly weapon… and no one could wield such a blade better than he.

"Stop ogling over your sword already" Said a feminine voice from behind him.

"Oh shut up Alexis… I could say the same thing about you and your handguns" Replied Anton turning around to face the blue hair, blue eyed woman. So was tallest female in the clan and had a rather skinny body type, normally wearing the Koppra suit with her long mid chest length hair tied into a loose ponytail. However, she was currently donning her beige and red Mesa frame adorned with a simple Abrasys syandana of the same colors, Aklex prime attached to her hips, while her Latron Prime lay attached to her back. A massive Galatine prime was also holstered on her back, the massive greatsword about 6 inches taller than she was.

"What is it with you and massive swords." Said Anton, in a suggestive tone.

"I will shoot you…"

"Good point... I'll shut up now."

Suddenly they heard laughing as a red and gold Loki prime frame stepped out from the doorway and into the room donning his solstice daedalus armor and the same syandana as Anton albeit in a different color scheme. The Cernos Prime holstered to his back right next to his quiver. Akstilletto prime strapped to his upper thighs and his beloved Rakta dark dagger strapped to his hip. The average built, long black and red haired Tenno normally wore a full manduka suit colored red and gold with accents of blue but at the moment he was at ease in his trusty stealth frame.

"I swear hear your bickering cracks me up every time." Said the Loki

"Yeah, yeah it's hilarious Amel" Said Anton. Alexis had found herself a nice section of wall to lean on. She was now pretending to shoot both of them, her hands closed into gun like L shapes.

"Hey, what can I say your shit is funny. Anyways beside that… where the hell is Elanna."

"Late... as always… I mean for such an energetic person she's honestly like the laziest person in the clan." Replied Anton, completely unaware of the black and gold Ember prime right behind him. Then she yelled…

"HEYYYY ANTON" This had the most likely very intended effect of startling Anton so bad the bullet jumped to the ceiling.

"By the void! Elanna please… Don't ever do that again." Said Anton, his voice exasperated. Her only response was a petite giggle.

Ellana was the shortest of the Tenno and of a more curved body type than Alexis. She usually liked to wear her black and gold Saito prime suit and often kept her hair straight, it casually reaching her waist. Though right she had her Warframe equipped.

"Ok well then," Started Anton, as he took his place at the front of the room, "We have a report from Clem on Lua. The Grineer Remnant is making moves. It appears they're trying to find something that'll give them an edge in the war with the Sentients. We need to find out what they're doing and put a stop to it. Anything that would give what's left of the Grineer an edge over the sentient is likely to dangerous for them to handle. The Lotus wants us to deploy to Lua, take out the remnant threat and capture what it is they're looking for. Any questions?" Explained Anton

"I don't understand the Grineer. Even with a majority of their forces taken out by the Sentients they still cling to their whole superiority complex thing. At least what was left of the Corpus after the Sentients first strike had the intelligence to stop their greedy bickering and join us. I mean sure most of the old boats was killed and do we replaced them with our allies in the Perrin Sequence but still…" Complained Alexis. Elanna was quick to respond.

"Well there's your problem right there. The Corpus were greedy as all hell but they aren't spots like the Grineer. The only remotely intelligent ones are the leaders and even they only have the logic to think of themselves."

Amel seemed to have noticed something odd about Elanna.

"Elanna… where are your weapons?"

At this she froze with a little gasp realizing her Ignis wrath, twin Roggas and her broken War sword, obtained off the the stalker the first time they fought Hunhow, were missing. Rather sheepishly, she replied,

"I may have forgotten them…" An innocent laugh escaped her, not unlike a child caught eating the last cookie.

Anton audibly facepalmed.

"Just...Just don't forget them when we arrive at Lua…"

 **Back on Lua, Plato, Origin system, 40 minutes later…**

They searched and they searched and then after that they searched done more. The Grineer remnant forces had spend days on end searching through the halls of Lua. Even after losing an entire platoon to a squad of Sentient conculysts, the Grineer continued their search. 54 deaths would not stop them. Clem had given their forces the slip but he was worried. His cover had been blown when a tank brother had called his out.

That damn Grog. Ratting out a fellow member of his batch like that. And so Clem remained within the shadows of the Orokin moon sneaking about with surprising grace and stealth for someone in one tonne Uranus camo Grineer armor. As he turned yet another corner, he came face first with a squad of 5 Grineer soldiers, 4 elite lancers and a scorch. The heavy yellow armored scorch turned to face the undercover operative and yelled out his raspy billowing voice ringing through the halls.

"WHO AOU!"

Clem did not respond. Unfortunately for the short statured Grineer spy his lack of a response brought on the in intended effect of having the other four lancers raise their rifles at him. The scorch got closer to Clem the faceplates of their mask almost touching. Clem could smell the rancid smell of the grineer's breath. Why couldn't they invest in some hygiene he didn't know. Either way that train of thought ended rather abruptly when the scorch spoke once more his raspy voice now low and intimidating,

"Who…. Aou…" this time Clem answered the scorch trooper, his voice a low whisper in the ignis wielding grineer's ear.

"Clem…" The scorch stood back for a second seemingly confused.

"WAT!?" This time Clem repeated himself with more gusto than before.

"Clem!..." The other troopers stood confused as well Lowering their rifles slightly. A mistake that would cost them when Clem spoke once more,

"Grakata!" He yelled and before the rest of the soldiers could react he already had his twin Grakatas out and trained on the squad… a five to one stand off, not the worst odds he'd faced. The scorch yelled,

"CLEM U SCOOM!" But that was the last thing that would ever leave his mouth as the rapid fire retort of Clem's Grakatas rang out through the hall and in two seconds stopped as quickly as it started. The five grinner soldiers stood there for a moment, like as if they couldn't believe that they had been collectively pumped full of 80 high caliber grakata rounds. Those short seconds were soon outlived however, and the five soldiers now found themselves lying dead in a pool of their own blood. The halls were now silent once again, and in this silence, Clem was now able to hear the footfalls of other grineer squads nearby. They were close, too close, and so Clem quickly grabbed the universal mags off the grineer lancers and the radio off the scorch before continuing his way through the halls. He hadn't had any real encounters with more squads after that, successfully keeping to the shadows. That is until he heard the words he really did not want to hear. The grineer's voice on the radio was clearly that of a higher up, his voice speaking not in the in the grineer tongue but a raspy, though well pronounced, Orokin common,

"We've found the key. Someone get me Commander Regor and bring in the Torsion device. Now all squads fall on me."

The operative listened, only able to let out a disgruntled,

"Clem." This mission was getting heavy. Where were those reinforcements he had requested. It had already been about a hour. Clem shook his head to help clear his thoughts. He would get them when he'd get them, for now he would follow and see how the grineer forces were progressing with their plans. Regor had arrived and there was only so much he could do on his own now. Sure he might had competed with some of the poorly equipped young Tenno recruits but he wasn't that good. He could only do so much alone against more than fifty Grineer remnant soldiers. Sure the Remnants were not what they were before the Sentients wiped most of them out in the opening days after they declared the Old War reinstated a year and a half ago, but the Grineer that did survive that initial assault were mostly the higher ups. Worm was dead but with leaders like Vor ad Regor, what was left of the Grineer had very little trouble in reforming and regrouping. So Clem decided he would stay watching and cataloging the Grineer from within the shadows, waiting patiently for his reinforcements so that he could finally use his precious Grakatas once again.

 **Meanwhile…**

Regor was in a decent mood. Things were going well today. They had discovered a void powered portal device. That large golden machine room was surprisingly intact considering the overall state Lua was in. Sadly they lacked the key needed to activate the portal. After days of searching however they had apparently uncovered it. A success that Regor was sure to promote someone for. His arrival had also gone rather smoothly. The Torsion beam had been set up properly and no one dared screw with the horrifying Grinner commander and Biologist, Dr. Tyl Regor. He had been chosen by the remaining Grineer heads as no one trusted Vor in the Void any more. His last venture lead to the Warframes being awakened, him dying for the first time, and him going missing for close to two whole years, lost within the corrupting effects of the void. He had blindly killed plenty of lancers in their attempt to get him back and once he was freed from the voids grasp the Queens agreed to ban him from ever returning there. A decision they all agreed with as well. He was excited to go. He had never be through an Orokin portal before and Regor loved to learn new experiences, so it was to his great pleasure that the Beam device had been already set up by them time he got there. He was made even happier when the CO of the Grinner soldiers currently stationed there had personally handed him the key stating that he should do the honors. That Trooper was definitely getting a invitation into Regor's Spec ops now. With that, the doctor placed the key into the appropriate slot on the device. It blared into life the golden laser impacting the centroid of the mechanism and brute forcing the large portal open. Just like intended a large tear in space opened up, the starry black wall of the portal calling at him to cross through the tear. And cross the tear he did, his unit following suit, completely disregarding the words written in flowing Orokin upon the key used to open the portal…

'Tabellarius'


	5. Contact And Combat

Hey Fan Fictioneers,

I would like to inform you all that I am in fact still alive. I'm sorry for the really long wait since chapter 4 but I was held him with life and writing blocks and inspiration was a little low. Thankfully I was able to fit in enough time to get this out to you all. Once again feel free to leave any constructive criticisms and comments. I do this cause it's fun and your comments make it all worth it. So with out further ado...

Please enjoy...

 **Chapter 5:**

 **Contact and Combat**

 **Orokin Cruiser 'Tabellarius', Edge of the Terminus Systems, Interstellar space,**

"Oh man, This is heavy. First contact and it's with a technologically advanced race that got fucked harder than the Quarians with the Geth." Commented Shepard. The conversation that they had with Exodus proved to be ever informative. Garrus stood silent taking in the magnitude of the Orokin's losses, while Mordin's note taking never even hinted at slowing down. So much information was to be had. The tech, the culture, the history, but what had Mordin really intrigued was what the cephalon had referred to as the void. Though as endless as Mordin's note taking seemed it suddenly came to a halt.

"Hold on... Intrigued by your mention of this void. What is it?" He asked.

"Ah yes, the void. Well there is no real way to describe it. It's an alternate plane of existence. parallel but separate from our own. It radiate energies exponentially more powerful than anything discovered thus far but it is, of course, also dangerous beyond compare."

"Parallel Plane of existence? That falls into multiverse theory, presumed false, rather interesting to know it's not. Opens plenty of research opportunities. Please tell me more." Said Mordin adopting a thoughtful pose.

"Why of course, It has been a long time since I have spoken to anyone. It is… Nice. So about the void, it's- Hold on!" The cephalon interrupted himself, his voice suddenly a mix of both confusion and worry.

"What's going on?" Demanded Garrus adopting a battle stance at Exodus' sudden tense attitude.

"This isn't… It can't be correct. These readings are not right. Running systems diagnostics…. By the void it's-" Exodus began rambling on as he ran diagnostics, but was interrupted when the portal across the hall suddenly burst to life, golden gears beginning to grind together. A golden haze filtered into a starry black film appearing over the mechanism. For Shepard and his crew, it was a beautiful sight, that is until unknowns walked through. Twenty soldiers, decked in heavy blue armor and carrying yellow looking guns. The armor was rounded and blobby and, for all the grace these strange soldier moved with, it looked incredibly bulky. The guns were large and heavy looking. An ugly amalgamation of blocky parts and rounded industrial design and now all these poorly designed guns were now pointing directly at the squad. These strange soldiers lined up side by side and aimed their assault rifles down the hall, lining up their iron sights with the yellow glow coming from the eyes of their blank white face masks. Shepard and his crew replied the only way they could possibly do so in a situation like this. They raised their guns as well to form a nice stand off between a Shepard, a Turian, a Salarian, and some twenty odd unidentified soldiers.

"Grineer!?" Shouted the cephalon.

"What?" Asked Shepard.

"The grineer are clones used as somewhat of a slave caste in the Orokin Empire. They were strong, aged fast, and were very hard workers, set to do the heavier construction based jobs within the Empire." Before Shepard could respond, suddenly disturbed by this cephalon's casual referral of the grineer to slaves, Another voice resounded from across the hall. However, unlike the heavy guttural language that these Grineer were using, this deep voice, both soothing and intimidating, was speaking in the flowing Orokin language that the cephalon had kindly shared with Shepard and his crew's translation software earlier.

"Now, now, it has been a long time since we have been referred to as slaves, cephalon. And… What is this we have here? I don't recall ever seeing anything like the armor you have on, and your alien allies there definitely hint at quite the discovery on my end. Who are you exactly?" By this point Tyl Regor had pushed through his line of troops for Shepard to see him. Silence reigned in the hall, as Shepard and Regor stared eachother down. Shepard knew this would not be an easy fight. This new Grineer towered over him by at least a foot, and the heavy axe and shield he carried looked like it was more than just a cosmetic item no matter how barbaric it seemed. He had no doubt that the person across knew how to use his weapon. Plus he looked to be of some rank, if the more ornate blue armor with two horns adorning his helmet was anything to go by. Regor wasted no time studying the group as well. The man taking point looked like the leader and was very much like one of those Corpus members in appearance. He might have mistaken his for one if it was for the fact his armor was unlike anything he'd seen before. The two aliens by this man's side, however, was what caught his attention. It Would seem this was a first contact situation. That was good. Regor relished the opportunity of acquiring new knowledge and found the idea of other races for the Grineer to subjugate fantastic. As Regor took a step forward the three raised their rifles once again.

"I'd ask you the same thing." Demanded Shepard.

"Ah well, my friend, the name is Tyl Regor. I am the leader of this little exploratory group. Both a loyal soldier and a simple lover of the sciences." Mordin perked up at that,

"Scientist? Interesting to see someone with your appearance holding title like that."

"Well, looks can be… deceiving after all but alas I'm a lover of the sciences indeed. I do in fact hold many specializations in the field of biology and bioengineering."

"Ah another biologist I see. Solus, Mordin Solus, Good to see others taking interest in the subject. These are my companions, Commander Shepard and Garrus Valkarian" The two nodded and lowered their rifles slightly.

" It is a pleasure… Now, I'm in a good mood for this day has been very educational. you three have proven to be very interesting but unfortunately… I need this ship. Therefor, I shall extend some courtesy. I would like to ask you to leave please."

"That sound lovely, but unfortunately we found this place first and I can't trust you just yet. Especially not with a ship like this so close to our borders." Said Garrus entering into the conversation. Regor sighed,

"I was hoping you would cooperate but I guess it was not meant to be." As if on cue Shepard and his crew were subdued before the even knew it. Three Dekar Manics, in their black Uranus camo decloaked behind them and had their claws ready to tear open the necks of Shepard and his crew within mere moments. Shepard and his squad struggled to escape but were all surprised by the strength these soldiers had. Mordin however, using his agility instead a trying to brute forced the Manics and thanks to his skills as an STG operative slipped out and shot the Manic in the knee. After taking the first shot the second broke through. Falling to one knee the Manic was helpless against the point blank shot to the head the followed, before he even hit the ground Mordin turned towards the other Manics only for Regor hilt smash him in the Head. Mordin was out cold. Shepard and Garrus now helpless were soon subjected to the same treatment.

"Pitiful... Take them away, and someone get me that cephalon." Said Regor, as he began commanding his units to and fro.

With that Shepard and his crew were knocked out and dragged through the portal…

 **Normandy SR2, Edge of the Terminus Systems, Interstellar space,**

Joker sat in his chair panicking. This was supposed to be a simple exploration mission. Now Shepard, Garrus and Mordin were gone, all comms with them had been suddenly cut off after the portal they found opened and their apparent first contact went south. They could be in deep thought and that wasn't good. Shepard was too important to be lost like this.

"Miri, we may have a massive problem here. Is the Shuttle ready to go? Cause I need it ready to go!" Miranda's voice came on over the comms,

"What do you mean problem?"

"Shepard… He's gone."

"What do you mean he's gone?"

"I think we might be dealing with a hostile first contact."

"Shit!" Down in her quarters, Miranda began to pace back and forth. "I'll have a second squad set up we don't have time to call for backup if the situation is this bad already.

"Alright, I'll radio the hanger and have the shuttle pilot prep the insertion."

"Good, keep me posted on any further developments." With that Miranda cut the line and got to work getting her squad together. Within twenty minutes she had a squad prepared in the hanger. She stood there in her skin tight combat suit with her M4 Shuriken ready to go, net to her on the shuttle was Jacob his suit more armored than Miranda's but was still light enough to allow him easy movement. He was currently cleaning his M-27 Scimitar. Grunt, standing up across from the two humans, unflipped the safety of his M-300 Claymore heavy shotgun.

"It's nice to see others appreciating the strengths of the humble shotgun." Said Grunt nodding to Jacob.

"What can I say. They're reliable, and powerful guns. As a close range biotic it complements me nicely."

With a low grunt Grunt nodded towards Jacob before going back to his own gun.

The shuttle doors opened soon enough and so Miranda, Jacob and Grunt found themselves going into the golden halls of the Orokin Vessels. The rescue group scoured the halls until they came to a large hall. The squad took a long look around admiring the ornate design of it all.

"This vessel is amazing. I don't want to know how much it would cost to build a ship like this." Said Miranda.

"I don't know. I don't like the feeling this place gives me." Replied Jacob on edge.

"Bah! All this fancy design is useless! A ship is a ship I'll admire it when I know it can actually fight like a proper vessel should!" Grunt would have continued on his rant about the uselessness of the ship architecture, but something caught his attention. He smelled something off as they arrived at yet another ornate door.

"Wait! Somethings up get-

Grunt never finished his sentence as the door opened with a _Snap-Hiss_. Suddenly Grunt found himself face to face with a soldier of some kind. Unlike the lighter looking blue armored squadron of of soldiers behind the front soldier who already had their blocky yellow rifles raised. The one face to face with grunt held stark differences. He stood as tall as grunt, about half a foot taller than the rest, and held a white launcher of sort with white armor bulkier than even many armors used by the krogan. "Stap, Goons dan nu. U Cam Whit Uss!"

At the sound of Miranda and Jacob cocking their guns Grunt could only smile…

 **Lua, Plato, Origin System,**

Amel ran down the halls of Lua, his quiver out of arrows as empty as the void energy reserves of his Loki warframe. How he ran out of arrows and energy already was beyond any of the other Tenno in his squad. The distinctive humming and clicking sounds of sentient movements were getting, louder they were gaining on him. He turned the corner and slid into another hall hoping his mastery over stealth would be enough to conceal him. The four sentients, two battalysts and two conculysts, all casually turning to face Amel made him realize otherwise.

"Heyyy Guys" he said with a nervous giggle before continuing, "Can't we just talk this over".

The sentients stayed silent for a second before open firing. Amel just barely managed to dive behind cover, his previous location consumed in the radioactive fire of the two battalyst's cannons.

"Fuck, there goes peaceful conflict resolution. Time for plan B." Amel lifted himself from his cover taking aim with his Akstiletto, the acid filled HE rounds would be guaranteed to at least do some damage, especially with the gun's high rate of fire. The triggers pulled before any of the sentients could react.

CLICK...CLICK...CLICK...CLICK…

"Aw shit!" Amel pulled out his Rakta dark dagger and charged at the machines but before his attack could connect, a fiery inferno engulfed the sentients. Elanna walked up behind Amel and, in a humorous voice, said,

"Figured you could use a hand, that situation looked a little... hot"

"I might have been working up a bit of a COLD sweat." Replied Amel, his tone sarcastic.

"You suck"

"I try… anyway do you know where the rest of the squad is?"

"I do but maybe we should take care of this problem first." Said Elanna point towards the now recovering sentients.

"I'm out of ammo…" Deadpanned Amel

"What? How do you even? Nevermind… Just watch. I got this in the bag." and with a seductive sway of her hips Elanna stepped up to the sentients and unloaded her Ingis on the squad. The vicious flames licked away at sentient armor but effectively only did superficial damage.

"Hmm interesting… That didn't work." She stepped back slowly and, her voice simply a nervous squeal at this point, said "RUN!"

And ran away they did, as they avoided the symphony of rapid fire sentient artillery…

 **Meanwhile,**

"Anton… Are those explosions?" Said Alexis as the Excalibur Umbra and Mesa duo navigated the crumbling hallways of Lua's Orokin ruins. They had arrived in search of Clem and to follow up on his intel of the Grineer exploratory group.

"Sounds like Elanna found Amel then." Said Anton. He had sent Elanna to search for Amel after he was separated from the squad when a hallway had collapsed on them.

"Should we go check it out?"

"Nah, I trust they've got this covered on their end."

"I'm going to check."

"What? Wait! Alexis Come on!" Anton complained. He really didn't feel like deviating from their objective any longer than they already had. Of course, however, Alexis completely ignored Anton's cries. Anton could only sigh and follow.

"It's a good thing I'm supposed to be squad lead." He muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Um... nothing!"

They didn't walk long before a nearby opened with a distinctive _Snap-Hiss_ allowing the 15 grineer soldier being lead by a heavy desert camo armor clad napalm and two taller heavy machine gunners.

"Tenno! Git Dem!" Cried the napalm.

What followed was nothing short of a blood bath. A blast from the napalm's incendiary missile launcher was deftly dodged by Anton as he quickly ducked under and rolled forward out of the missile's course. By the time the missile exploded upon contact with the walk behind the two Tenno, Anton had already used his suits first void ability, dashing forward through the fold of the void and gutting the napalm along with three other grineer lancers in the same amount of time it took Alexis to gun down the two heavy gunners and three grineer lancers with her Aklex Prime. A split second later and Anton's Nikana prime was already fully unsheathed, it's golden blade quartering grineer troops and cutting bullets out of the air with grace and fluidity. In the same time it took Anton, with his mastery over the reverse grip stance of blind justice, to cut down half the remaining grineer soldiers, exactly three seconds, The rapid barking of Alexis' Aklex prime never ceased. By the end of those three seconds, eighteen grineer soldiers lied at Anton's feet in a veritable pool of blood either diced up or lacking large chunks of head thanks to high caliber pistol fire.

"Well… That went well" Said Anton while sheathing his blood soaked blade after flicking the blood off, "All this blood's gonna be a bitch to clean off my warframe though."

"You're the one who loves using a sword with like the closest range fighting style ever. I mean what'd you expect."

"Don't insult my baby" replied Anton as he began to caress his Nikana.

With a sigh Alexis just shook her head.

" I swear, for an ultra badass god level warrior, You're such a child sometimes."

"Cause you don't have your own quirks, gearhead. The amount of times I've caught you ogling over engineering schematics is testament to that."

Alexis was about to resort but Amel and Elanna running up to them broke her train of thought. Even Anton's was surprised their random appearance. Although the two Tenno's surprise might have been less attributed to the arrival of their two squadmates and more to 8 sentients they had chasing them.

"A little help here" Yelled Amel his voice barely audible over the sound of explosion.

"Dude how did you even- Anton began, only to be cut off by Elanna now cowering behind him.

"Less talky, more fighty please!"

Anton and Alexis sighed as they equipped their unique weapons

By this point the were surrounded. Alexis could only say one thing,

"Well fuck"

The fight was brutal to say the least. Simply put it was roughly ten minutes of mostly running and hiding coupled by sustained attacks from the squad. Anton's exalted blade, A powerful one handed saber created entirely out a concentrated void energy made short work of the sentient troops. Alexis' Regulators overloaded the sentient's adaptability with their absurdly high rate of fire, incredible accuracy and void charged ammo. By the time the two Tenno's energy had run out, Elanna had already joined back into the fray her void reserves recharged by the energy module Alexis had given her. Amel had also joined back in and thanks to his now available radial disarm, the remaining sentients were helpless against the Tenno who exited their warframes to deliver a sustained assault using their concentrated void beams to overwhelm and destroy the sentients, unarmed and weak to the voids deadly energies. After taking a few minutes to absorb the oro of the sentient units to ensure they did not regenerate and take a breath after such an intense battle, the squad, now reunited and all patched up, made their way towards the original objective. After running down the halls for a few minutes they turned a corner and, coming face to face with another grineer, all raised their weapons. They stopped and froze in their tracks however, when the trooper, shaking in fear at the thought of his almost horribly painful demise, raised his hands in the air, jumped up like a frightened cat and yelled,

"CLEM! CLEM!"

A/N:

Yes... I have a thing for cliff hangers. In other news longest chapter to date (Yay!). Hope you enjoyed this new chapter and stay tuned for the next episode of Dragon ball- Uh I mean Orokin Effect.


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